I attended this dinner last night at Enoteca Vin Restaurant in Raleigh. Lorca has its office in Rutherford, CA and uses Caymus facilities to make the wines (winemaker is with Caymus). Some of the grapes are sourced from Monterey County including Pisoni Vineyard. With appetizer of scallop and Silver Queen corn risotto in tomato-flavored water we had the 2000 Lorca Pinot Gris. With a salad of romaine, grapefruit sections, avocado, shaved fennel and shaved white cheese we had the 2000 Lorca Pinot Blanc. I am not a big fan of either grape variety but preferred the Pinot Gris to the Pinot Blanc.
It was a slightly darker straw color, was viscous and had a fairly long finish. The Pinot Blanc was more acidic and had less finish. I thought the Pinot Gris had some storage in wood barrels but the president of
Lorca Wines, Cary Tamura, assured me that they use no wood. I would have sworn, but I guess I would have been mistaken.
My favorite wine of the evening was the 1999 Lorca Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir, served with
barely seared yellowfin tuna with diced Yukon Gold potatoes, organic arugula and marinated olive relish. Gary's Vineyard has cuttings from Pisoni Vineyard. The wine had a mahogany/burgundy color, nose of black cherry and plum, taste both fruity and peppery with some not unattractive tannins. The couple at my end of the table picked up on plum and spices also but expected a different taste than they got after sniffing it. The wine was viscous and very smooth and nice. I was prepared to order a couple bottles if the price didn't go over $30 but it was priced at $36.99. (Not out of line if compared to Siduri Pisoni but more than I usually pay for domestic wines). (The Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc, by the way, were both $16.99)
A 1999 Lorca Petite Syrah accompanied roasted pork tenderloin (very tender) with crispy polenta and smoked bacon-porcini juice. The P.S. was purple color and started smooth. I thought the tannins were not too prominent , but then they bite you on the finish. However, as Cary Tamura had assured me, the wine was drinkable now. It was a wine to be consumed with food. There was a bit of leather to the components but I liked it better than I thought I would having almost no experience with petite sirahs. Dessert was two chocolate truffles.
The chef was once again successful with all dishes--I particularly enjoyed the risotto, the pork, and the polenta.
I'm better than a rain dance--once again my visit to Raleigh produced welcome cloudbursts.